


Roots like the Trees

by hernameinthesky



Series: The Wolfy Badlands [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Exes, F/F, Feral Behavior, Feral Erica, Gen, Memory Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-21 12:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4828952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hernameinthesky/pseuds/hernameinthesky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kira’s seen Erica shifted dozens of times. Has kissed the strange, hard bones between her eyebrows and been caught in her bright, golden gaze.</p><p>But this. She’s never seen this.</p><p>OR</p><p>Erica escapes the Alpha Pack with no memories, and her wolf only trusts Kira.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Roots like the Trees

**Author's Note:**

> For the song Haunted, title taken from the same song. 
> 
> This is set in some AU where Kira was around in s1 and s2, so knows about werewolves. 
> 
> Warnings for (recent) past torture, memory loss, and a feral, aggressive werewolf.

Kira’s seen Erica shifted dozens of times. Has kissed the strange, hard bones between her eyebrows and been caught in her bright, golden gaze.

But this. She’s never seen this.

She’s starting to understand why Erica never wanted her around on the full moon. She’s not sure she would have stayed with her in the beginning if she’d seen this part of her.

Her eyes are still bright and golden, but they’re empty, half wild. There’s a low rumbling coming from her chest, a sound that punches right though Kira and makes her shrink back, makes goose bumps erupt down her arms and the back of her neck.

“Stay still,” Derek says, not taking his eyes off Erica.

She’s crouching in a corner of the vet’s office, her body wound tight, ready to spring. She’s naked, skin shining with sweat where it’s not covered by mud, and her hair is a matted mess, leaves and twigs tangled so thoroughly they look like a part of her.

She looks like an animal.

Derek takes a slow step forward and the rumbling becomes a full growl, spit flying from her lips as she bares her teeth. Kira squeaks without meaning to, flinching backwards, and Erica’s eyes shoot to her.

Kira freezes, heart in her throat, her whole body tensed to run but unable to move.

Then slowly, slowly, Erica stops growling, the sound fading off like a passing car. Then she’s silent, staring at Kira, her face scrunched up in wary confusion.

“Erica?” Kira breathes, ignoring Derek’s furious, terrified look. “Erica, it’s me, Kira. You know me, don’t you?”

Erica’s eyes dart from her to Derek to her to Derek to her to Derek, then settle again on her. Derek takes a few steps back, and Kira one forward, hardly daring to breathe.

“I’m not going to hurt you, Erica,” she says quietly, taking another step.

Erica’s tongue darts out to lick her lips, and she stays tense and distrustful as Kira approaches slowly, but she doesn’t growl or move.

“Who are you?” she says suddenly, her voice thick through her fangs, and rough, like she hasn’t used it in a long time. Or like she’s been screaming a long time.

Kira’s so startled at the sound that she stops, and in the silence she can hear her own heart pounding in her ears.

“I’m Kira, you know me,” she says again.

Erica shakes her head.

“Don’t you remember?” Kira says, feeling a lump start to rise in her throat. Somehow Erica forgetting her is worse than wanting to kill her. She’s not sure how that works.

“I don’t remember anything.”

Most of the anger seems to have drained out of Erica now, leaving her looking small and scared and very naked.

“Derek, go get her something to wear.”

Derek makes a noise of protest, but Kira glares at him over her shoulder until he sighs, shoots Erica one more worried look, and leaves. Kira takes a deep breath and turns back to Erica.

“Your name’s Erica,” she says. “I’m Kira. I’m your…”

She hesitates, and Erica speaks up confidently, “You’re my pack.”

Kira blinks at her. “I thought- I thought you didn’t remember anything,” she says, deciding now is probably not the best time to tell Erica that Kira is definitely _not_ her pack.

“I don’t. But I recognise you. My wolf recognises you.”

Kira shifts uneasily. “You think you can maybe put your wolf away?” she says, trying for a smile.

Erica lifts a hand to her face, and looks surprised to find herself in half-shift. A moment later her face smooths out, human again, and the knot of anxiety in Kira’s chest loosens a little. Derek looks startled when he comes back in and sees she's shifted back, but he doesn’t say anything, just throws the clothes he’s brought from his car at her feet.

“The jacket’s mine, but the rest is yours,” he says.

Erica pulls on her underwear awkwardly, still in a half-crouch and with apparently no desire for privacy. She doesn’t even look at the bra, but manages to wiggle into the jeans and t-shirt without much trouble. She sniffs at the jacket like a dog, then pushes it away with a grimace.

They all stand there in silence for a few long moments, then Derek says, “You should go home with Kira.”

Kira turns to him with wide eyes. “I can’t take a feral werewolf home,” she says. “My mom will kill me. Or her.”

“I’m coming with you,” Erica says decidedly, finally standing up straight. “You’re the only person my wolf trusts.”

“What about Isaac and Boyd?” Kira says weakly.

“Why do you think they’re not here?” Derek says. “She tried to rip their faces off. I think the only reason she didn’t attack me is because she’s knows I’m an alpha and she wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Erica bristles, eyes flashing, and Kira takes an automatic step forward, her hand resting on Erica’s shoulder. It’s what she’s done a thousand times before, when someone at school said something about them or when Erica’s moms forbade her from going out, but she’s not had the right in months. She realises this and starts to pull back, but Erica grabs her wrist and twists so they’re holding hands instead.

“Take me home,” she says.

Kira has to choke back a wild laugh because this is _ridiculous_. She should not be the only person her ex trusts. She turns to Derek, hoping for any sign that he’s going to argue, but he just looks sadly at Erica.

“Okay,” she says finally, shoulders slumping in defeat. “Do you have any idea what happened to her? What I can tell my mom?”

Derek sighs and closes his eyes, suddenly looking very young and tired. “I think the Alpha pack must have taken her memories.”

“They can do that?” Kira says, horror and fear coursing through her.

“Don’t worry,” Derek says. “You’d know if they’d done it to you. They dig their claws in the back of your neck, and you don’t heal like us, so you’d have scars.”

Kira anxiously runs a hand over the back of her neck, relaxing when she feels nothing but smooth skin.

“Any idea how to get the memories back?”

“A few, but I don’t know enough about any of them to try without talking to Deaton first,” Derek admits. “It wasn’t exactly something we needed to learn growing up.”

“Okay. You do that, I’ll… take her home, I guess.”

“Call me if anything changes.”

“Yeah, of course.”

They start to walk away, and Derek calls after them, “And Kira, thanks.”

Kira smiles at him, then walks out with Erica into the cold night.


End file.
